Lord Liaden

Re: Transformation

Re: Need help with...The List...

Re: Transformation I shall do my best to satisfy both you and the palindromedary. For the granting of things like wishes and other benefits that the character would desire, I generally use the standard "vs. Body" mechanic. In that case it's really just a yardstick for how much Transform you need to do the job, or how many applications it would take, since the target presumably isn't resisting; so Body seemed as good a measure as any, and it simplifies bookkeeping. For curses and similar negative effects, I prefer to give the Transform the Advantage, "Works Vs. EGO" as per Mental Transform, because I feel that Ego is a better measure of the target's innate "spiritual resistance." However, I don't require Based On ECV for Spiritual Transform.

Re: Transformation

Re: Need help with...The List... That would be a Doomsian kind of tactic, wouldn't it? Let someone else appear to take your place, have him eliminate your competition while taking all the flak for it, then blindside your "usurper" and claim all the spoils. In fact the 4E version of Dr. Destroyer did something very similar.

Re: how to build: highlander-ish soul catching Yeah, what are we playing here, D&D?

Re: Any more Alien Wars? You're welcome, but all I did was look up JmOz's DH adventures list, which is Stickied to the top of the Digital Hero discussion forum. He's the one who deserves the thanks. In fact I think I'll go Rep him for that now.

Re: Ghostly Possession

Re: how to build: highlander-ish soul catching There are some interesting suggestions along these lines in the excellent fan-created "Highlander HERO" PDF, which you can download for free from here: http://www.starherofandom.com/h_highlander/index.php You might also check out this discussion thread from the Old Forum archives - some of that is pertinent too: http://www.herogames.com/oldForum/FantasyHero/000008.html

Re: 'Possess the recently Dead' thought.... I don't want to give away too much of Hero Games's IP here; but essentially the Bodyjacking construct is Mind Control plus Desolid plus Clinging (to "ride" the body) plus Telepathy (to read the host's thoughts and memories - that last is probably optional). There are various Advantages and Limitations to customize it. Regarding Possession generally, the topic comes up on the boards fairly frequently, and there have been a number of suggestions for how to handle it, both based on "official" published builds and original ideas. Here's a representative sampling of the discussions: http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3857 http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19400 http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=23428 http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19968 http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=28354 http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=32941 http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=32927

Re: Ghostly Possession In the HERO System Bestiary, a Desolid ghost possessing a living body is written up using Mind Control with the Limitation, "Must Merge With Victim's Body" (-3/4). That appears to subsume the need to "hang on" as the host body moves around. If you want an actual mechanism for the ghost riding in the body, I've seen several custom builds posted here which use Clinging, Affects Solid World. Another approach is to eschew Desolid altogether for this effect, and use Extra-Dimensional Movement, with the "dimension" being the interior of the host body. You then apply the Transdimensional Advantage to whatever Power you may be using to control/animate the host. For your specific request, I personally would use Summon with Expendable Focus (corpse), and add a Mind Link to allow your spirit character to communicate its orders. On the more general front of possessing inanimate objects, the UNTIL Superpowers Database recommends Summon (p. 139), but that requires you to build the Summoned object. Another approach that I personally like was the old "Animate Object" construct from Champions III (pre-Fourth Edition HERO). I'll run it down, excluding elements that no longer fit with the revised HERO System: "Animate Object" is a -1/2 Limitation on Telekinesis. The character must make a Ranged Attack with TK against the object he wants to Animate. Once animated the object may use STR up to 5x the total DEF + BODY of the object. It uses the OCV of the character modified by its range from the character. If the object has more DEF + BODY than TK STR/5, the object won't move, but the character will still have expended END for the attack. The ability of the object to move and do work is based on its shape. It can do Fine Work if its shape is appropriate. Unless the object is attached to something, it can move 1" for every point of TK not used to animate it. The DCV of Animated Objects is based on Size modifiers only.

Re: Leadership Powers Check out the description of Presence Attacks in the rulebook. Inspirational Presence Attacks directed at friendly/allied parties are tailor-made for this kind of effect. I could see buying extra Presence, Only To Inspire (probably -1). Oratory is pretty much a mandatory Skill for motivating people. A successful Skill roll can also add to the aforementioned Presence Attack.

Re: Any more Alien Wars? FWIW there are two adventure scenarios for the Alien Wars setting published in Digital Hero: THE ENEMY OF MY ENEMY: Can three races that hate each other set aside their differences long enough to defend their planet in this Alien Wars adventure? DH #20, PAGE 33 YOUR HOROSCOPE FOR: CAPRICORN: This Alien Wars adventure lands your Star Hero characters on an icy lake world full of Xenovores. DH #21, PAGE 13

Re: Genre conventions I've spent time among both groups, and while the combination can exist in one person, it's rare - the average mindset is pretty different. When they do combine successfully, we tend to get people like Stephen Hawking.

Re: Genre conventions Having read this and other threads started by Robyn, I've come to believe that he (she?) is consciously or unconsciously striving to discover a Grand Unified Theory of Imagination: what it is, and how and why it manifests, particularly in story. Robyn seems to approach gaming issues from a different perspective than most of the rest of us here, so we often end up talking past each other. I suspect it's the nature of HEROdom; we're witnessing the frustration of a philosopher interacting with a community dominated by engineers.

Re: Need help with...The List... Well, if the heroes can eventually put it together, the villains can too. It might be interesting if Paragon doesn't always succeed in eliminating the competition - if in fact some of his rivals realize they're being targeted and start fighting back. Master villains often being geniuses, that's not unreasonable. The PCs could find themselves in the middle of a conflict between a known master villain and the still-unknown Paragon. One party or the other might even approach the heroes openly to attempt to recruit them to his side, which could make for some good roleplaying. It's also a good fallback position for you to identify Paragon if your players don't pick up on being manipulated; even smart players can sometimes astonish you with their obliviousness. And of course, there's always the ultimate Champions Universe deus ex machina maneuver: Dr. Destroyer knew about Paragon all along, and isn't really dead...

Re: Need help with...The List... As long as you don't fall into the temptation to make your villain the protagonist of the story, you should be fine. Some GMs enjoy their villainous creations so much, make them so capable and admirable and sympathetic, that they sometimes lose sight of the PCs as the heroes of the story, and that the villain exists to highlight their heroism and to ultimately be defeated by them. It's understandable, but IME nothing poisons a gaming group worse.

Re: Need help with...The List... Dr. MID-Nite, I apologize if this observation is off base, and I don't intend to offend... but from your remarks I feel I should caution you against becoming too enamored with Paragon. I've seen this with the pet characters of some GMs, and for that matter some comics creators *cough*StarlinThanos*cough* - they make their villains too perfect, without exploitable flaw or weakness, and have them effortlessly "deal with" other major villains just to demonstrate to the heroes (or in the case of RPGs, the PCs) just how bad@$$ they are. All too often said villain becomes the focus of the story rather than the heroes. I'm certainly not accusing you of Mary Sue-ism, especially since I don't have the details of how you intend to use Paragon. I just felt the point was worth raising, and having done so I will now shut up and let you run your own game.

Re: Wait, you mean 5ER doesn't have all the rules? Heck, imagine the HG staff's surprise when they found a bunch of hardcopies of the HERO System Resource Kit, many months after they thought they'd run out and dropped any plans to reprint it. There are still copies of that in the Online Store too BTW.

Re: Anywhere but your own country This Wikipedia article on the city highlights the vast campaign potential of Bombay, or as it's now officially called, Mumbai.

Re: Wait, you mean 5ER doesn't have all the rules? Personally I was very fond of the HERO System Almanac and HSA II that came out during the Fourth Edition era. I thought it was a great concept: an annual grab-bag of optional and/or expanded rules, treatments of different specific areas of genre gaming, more details on elements of the Hero Games worlds, updated reprints of older OOP material, all in a bound softcover book for a reasonable price. I would snatch up such a book for Fifth Edition in a second if it became available, but I don't think it's in Steve's game plan. Digital Hero appears to be the principle kitchen-sink option today, with elements from that going into more targeted books when Steve deems them appropriate.

Re: Anywhere but your own country

Re: Need help with...The List... I've used the pairing of Holocaust and Gravitar a few times since 5E came out. It was suggested in a plot seed in Conquerors, Killers And Crooks; IMO it's a very natural combo, given the remarkably similar backgrounds and worldviews they share. Mind you, these are two very volatile personalities, so they've been kind of the super Battling Bickersons of my campaign. They team up for awhile, then have a falling out over whose plan to follow or which one is to blame for their most recent failure, then get back together again. When they do cooperate, though, their vast combined power and wealth, Holocaust's political contacts, and Gravitar's scientific expertise can lead to devastating developments. As a result of an earlier discussion about this couple on the boards, I've been toying with introducing a character come from the future to the present day: the child of Gravitar and Holocaust, with all the power of both parents.

Re: Tell me of your Hero Point/Dramatic Editing mechanics The approach that I've used in my games, pretty successfully IMHO , is essentially a synthesis of several other systems that fellow HEROphiles have described from their own campaigns. The core of my approach is based on Jesse Zwerling's "Action Points!" system (his exclamation point, not mine) which can grant automatic successes for certain rolls, which other HERO variants which I've seen don't. I follow Jesse's guidelines for what the points can be used for, and when/how often. You can read about Action Points! on Jesse's pulp campaign website, "Thrilling True Tales," here: http://www.armlesstigerman.com/intro/pulp/playersguide.html Action Points! do allow for "dramatic editing" of game continuity, but to a limited degree. I expanded the options for DE by using Donald Doepke's adaptation of "Inspiration Points" from White Wolf's Adventure! pulp game. It's the only circumstance under which I allow more than one point to be spent on a single action. Donald has a full DE chart on his own HERO pulp campaign website, "Amazing Adventures!" which you can scope out here: http://web.archive.org/web/20031216220545/home.earthlink.net/~ddoepke/amamechanics.html When I started using a points system I noticed the same kind of problems that Rapier, bigdamnhero and Ockham's Spoon have: some players hoard them and are afraid to spend them, and may even feel helpless without them; while others never bother to use them. Then I came across Scott Bennie's "Luck Pool" system, a variant on Luck dice. I adapted Scott's Luck Pool, which has a set maximum size based on the number of dice someone buys, and a method of renewing the points in the pool independent of the GM handing them out. Thus a person can buy as large a reserve of points as they (and the GM) are comfortable with, or none at all if they don't want to use them. IMO this fits the "pay for what you get" philosophy of HERO. Here's where you can read about Scott's Luck Pool, and (very cool) Luck-based Talents: http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?p=440594

Re: Brainstorm: The Black Paladin Recruits! Say, how about a court bard? Someone to immortalize the deeds of the Paladin and his knights in song. BP has already pried Cloaca away from DEMON - you think he could pilfer Professor Samedi, too?